21L011 The Film Experience
Professor David Thorburn

Lecture 9 - The American Musical Film

1. Numbers
   • 1927-47: 919 films  (48 films each year)
   • 1949-58: 23 films per year
   • 1959-80: 7 films per year
     
     
2. Themes
   • Show business: community: the show goes on
   • High culture, popular culture
   • Class or position vs. talent, merit
   • Convention, restraint vs. spontaneity, energy, “the natural”
     
     
3. History
   • Revue, Operetta
     Love Me Tonight (Rouben Mamoulian, 1932) 
   • Busby Berkeley & Warner Brothers
     42^nd Street (1933)
   • Astaire, Rogers and RKO
     Top Hat (1935) 
   • MGM and “the integrated musical
     Singin’ in the Rain (Donen and Kelly, 1952)
     Arthur Freed (1894-1973): The Freed Unit